We had done it in 2017 we went on a big run with them and then we were supposed to go out in 2020, but the pandemic. Traci: We just found out you are doing the whole US thing with Everclear too. I had to go to work in Redondo Beach at a record store, so I would cross the Vincent Thomas Bridge and kind of skirt San Pedro, you go across the Peninsula. I left Southern California in ‘93, but that whole round up PCH from Costa Mesa, Newport Beach to San Pedro. Traci: I saw you are playing with Soul Asylum in Florida this weekend, a little taste of Flannel Nation? Tony: I’m excited about this thing in San Pedro just because we haven’t played in Southern California in a long time and it brings back memories. I need it myself because if I want to find out about an artist, boom, just go right to it. At the same time, I love digital format for distributing music, too, because everybody can hear it if they want to. We will if it’s there because you can get really great sounds out of analog stuff. We rarely use two-inch tape recorder anymore. I mean, sure, we’re all digital and everything. And I’m not ready to give up the old school methods. Other people’s gear, other people’s opinions, other people’s ideas. Try out all kinds of things and also other people’s things. I need a place to go, where we can go long if we need to. I need a vibe in a work environment that’s not my house. Well, that’s not the way I really want to work. People say, “Why do you even bother? Why don’t you just get a rig and some speakers?” Good speakers and a decent interface and boom, you’re in business.
Traci: How are you using technology to make new music? Tony: I love to create something from nothing and then go into a studio with a team. Sometimes this is weird because I find out maybe people don’t really want to hear all the truth because the truth can be pretty mundane and boring, or it can shatter their dreams of whatever preconceived notion they had. We try to talk about how they’re recorded.
Tony: We try to talk about how we write our songs.
I love hearing the stories behind songs, which you do on there. Traci: I think when artists have Patreon, there are usually benefits that make it worth it, besides the “I’m supporting my band.” For instance, your subscribers get a new song each month, and you share all the inside info with them. I don’t have the privilege of Neil Young or Joni Mitchell to pull all my music off. They don’t really give a lot of money, as you probably are well aware, but you’ve got to be up there anyway. The hardcore fans subscribe and they’re getting that same satisfaction that you just talked about of being able to pay the artist directly and then the streams. People still want it available on those formats, of course, but we do have a Patreon account and it’s proving to be really good for us. Traci: As a music lover, I’d rather my money go directly to you than funneling through streaming services and labels. We can easily get something worked out and make something of really high quality and not break the bank. We have access to connections with friends and other musicians and producers. Alternative sources of getting money which didn’t exist 15 years ago. Now we do a crowd fund, which was basically the last couple of records. For us to try and fund records rather than save all our money and max out a credit card to go in the studio, which is what we have done in the past. Tony: With the Internet, there’s new ways of making and putting out music, and there’s new ways of making money, too. Traci: It is crazy the amount of change in technology since you began. If we were to shell out a bunch of music back then, like, say, 2010 or 2005, it probably would have been kind of substandard because we were scattered all over the place.
#FASTBALL THE WAY HOW TO#
We didn’t know how to do it really, and things are a lot easier now. We would have done this before, but I don’t think it was a good environment, like 10 years ago to do what we are doing right now. Traci: I can see why you have been cranking out new stuff and sharing with fans. (laughs) But we are too busy working on our thing to get into trouble right now. Tony: Well, for me to have anything like that going on, it could be a career booster these days. Traci: Hey Tony! I’m glad to chat with you today, even though I have not found deep, dark secrets from my Austin intel. I was told, “I have never heard a bad word about him” and “He is good people!” After our chat, I feel these are correct assessments. The band originated in Austin, and since I used to live in the Texas capital city and still have radio friends there, I asked for dirt on Scalzo before our talk.
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